


Of Storms, Lightning and Fire

by Ortega_IV



Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:16:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29741385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ortega_IV/pseuds/Ortega_IV
Summary: In the moment Kakashi passes his team he sees so much.  He sees Naruto, and that for all he looks like his dad Naruto is his mothers son, and just like his first and last name Naruto sweeps up the people around him in Storms.  He sees Sakura, and for all that she plays meek and mild he looks in her eyes and sees Fire.  There is rage there, and he knows he can get her to burn brightly with the right fuel, the right motivation.  He looks at Sasuke, and sees the spark within.  For all that its quiet Sasuke’s spark can light quick, flashing like Lightning and consuming all in its path in the way Kakashi’s own spark does.  Kakashi passes his team and sees kids that can be so much more, and he’ll be damned if he lets anyone else slip away from him easily.Or in which Kakashi recognizes the level of potential in his students, and because of his abandonment issues decides these kids will be strong enough to handle just about anything.
Kudos: 4





	Of Storms, Lightning and Fire

# Chapter 1

“You….. pass”

<><><>

Kakashi’s hand is still on the Memorial Stone, reaching out for connections to people who have long since passed. His students have all gone home, and absently Kakashi wonders if he was overcome by a bout of madness to have passed this new team.

He sighs, “Sensei, Kushina-nee, please guide me. Rin, Obito, please guide them.”

He has no right to be asking anything of the dead, but when he looks at his students Kakashi sees so much. He sees his own team, a group of mismatched students each brilliant in their own way. He sees Obito in Naruto, Rin in Sakura, and himself in Sasuke. He sees that Naruto is his mother’s son in every way that matters, that Sakura has hidden depths and a desire to prove herself, and he sees the way Sasuke wants a connection for all that he plays aloof.

Perhaps most importantly, he sees three young ninja looking to him for guidance. To turn them into the forces of nature he knows they can be and Kakashi isn’t sure if there is anything left in him to give. He knows how to train ninja, this is no issue. The issue is that these ninja are children. They will require him to feel and provide for them in ways he never has needed to before. ANBU recruits tend to be more mask than person.

His hand flexes one last time on the Memorial Stone, the cool surface a poor substitute for the warm squeeze of a hand or a clap on the shoulder. Kakashi is nothing if not an extremely competent shinobi, and if there’s one thing he knows it's that the success of a mission relies on the quality and accuracy of the information given.

It’s time to go find a chunin.

<><><>

Iruka steps from his bathroom into the bedroom, a simple twist of chakra dries his hair as goes, deft fingers putting it up in his signature ponytail while carefully avoiding the senbon in hiding should anyone in the field mistake it for an easy grab.

Much like his namesake, Iruka’s claim to fame is a sensing jutsu of his own make. He’s among the top sensors of the village (not that he’d ever let Naruto know) and so it's no surprise that Iruka stills in his evening routine, registering the honed chakra of a jounin nearby. Focusing on the chakra, Iruka relaxes with a huff, he knows exactly who this jounin is.

“Kakashi, please stop lurking like a stalker before you meet the business end of my kunai.”

There’s no reply as Iruka steps out to see perhaps one of the strangest sights he’s come across, which when teaching a bunch of children how to kill grown men is saying something. Kakashi is standing in his living room, window open and a bag of Ichiraku’s Ramen in his hand, looking almost sheepish. As far as bribes go, it could use some work. The two of them have never been the best of friends. Iruka believes Kakashi to be a hair’s breadth away from a dangerous breakdown, and Kakashi can’t understand why Iruka would choose to pause in the middle of a successful field career to teach. It’s created some awkward situations, but Iruka also knows that Kakashi wouldn’t be here unless he needed it.

“So I take it they passed?” Iruka asks, taking his ramen and grabbing a seat at the kotatsu.

“Help me, these are real kids.” The prankster in Iruka wants to laugh, but he knows that the wellbeing of three of the most promising students he’s ever seen is riding on this.

“They’re shinobi, Kakashi, just like any other you’ve trained.” Iruka takes in Kakashi’s posture sat at his kotatsu. For all that they think the other is crazy, Iruka and Kakashi understand one another in a way that only those who’ve overcome their own inner demons can. He sees the slumped shoulders, and the light touch of mania in his lone eye.

“Kakashi,” Iruka sighs. “They really are shinobi, they can handle much more than you think. Teach them, train them, give them praise when it's a job well done and encouragement when they need a push. But I will say this. There will come a time where the encouragement they need is not because they can't learn a jutsu. They will look to you as the adult responsible for them and need more. Can you commit to that? Can you be all that they’ll need you to be?”

<><><>

Kakashi is unsure of how the situation devolved so fast. He’d set out with the intention of finding Iruka to ask about the kids, and then had thought better of it and picked up ramen. Somewhere in his trip from Ichiraku to Iruka’s apartment he’d gone from worried to full on panic.

Iruka is a puzzle to Kakashi. He’s on the Hokage’s short list of favorites, and for good reason. Iruka Umino is an excellent shinobi, talented with fuinjutsu and a sensor. He's an asset to the defense of the village proper and has the skills to take down all sorts in the field. He and Naruto were very similar, pulling all kinds of pranks that really shouldn’t be possible in a village of ninja, and when Iruka focused that intelligence on his enemies, well. There’s a reason Iruka sits before him now.

What he can’t understand is why someone so accomplished would choose to teach kids at the academy. Something in him recognizes that this is because the parts of him that want to reach out are broken. Those parts of him died with the last of his precious people, and atrophied with each passing day in ANBU, more mask than person.

“Can you be all that they’ll need you to be?”

Kakashi understands the gravity of this question. Iruka isn’t just asking if he’s willing to meet the challenge of training three young, impressionable children, but if Kakashi himself can withstand the torture. Teaching these kids means that at some point he will have to confront those atrophied parts, awaken and deal with pains he’d long locked away.

It’s almost too much to consider. Too much pain, and too much hope. Kakashi knows himself to be a curse. Knows that those he cares about are marked for death. He almost says no. But then he thinks of them, of the Storms raging in Naruto, of the Fire that is Sakura, and the Lightning of Sasuke. He sees all that they can be, and maybe a small part sees all that they can push him to be.

“I can.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><><><>

A short first chapter to set the scene. I’m excited to be starting this and have already got the next chapter in the works. Excited to throw my interpretation of these characters into the void.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first bit of writing I've done in a while. This work is inspired by Of Harrowed Hearts and a few others. Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm learning about posting on AO3 and a lot of this is trial and error! Any advice would be great!


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